Is the Lance Armstrong scandal the biggest scandal in the history of sport?

Pretty sure a chick with two nuts winning the WC 800 is a bigger scandal than a guy with one nut and a pile of dope winning the Tour.

not sure Lance is the biggest. Baseball with all its steroids. Bonds, McGuire, Sosa, A-Fraud etc

The NFL would likely be worse if they actually tested for the things they would use like HGH.

People wanted to believe the Lance rise from the ashes story. The reality is that anyone who follows cycling knows they are all dirty, ESPECIALLY the winners. Therefore to real fans, this is no revelation. The UCI and USADA seem to be actually cracking down and the sport is getting cleaner as evidenced by the much more human performances in the TDF - like leaders having rough days instead of being super human every day.

On the flip side, nobody really seems to much care if baseball, football, basketball players are using PEDs. Congress dropped everything and did an investigation when they should have been balancing the budget. The upshot was a big "Ho, Hum" from the masses and the players are all back to using and not being tested by their governing bodies. The records of PED users still stand uncontested.

The reason Lance is a big story is because even the non fan has heard of him and his image was of a trancendent human who was presumeably clean. Also being an American dominating in a foreign sport makes him very popular to Americans.

Mmmmm.......ever hear of Rosie Ruiz?

The unique thing about Lance is that he is one of the most lauded (as in awards of every type) to be caught in a huge lie, and continues to lie in full exposure to the media, providing a strange theater of pathos while his network and personal empire crumble around him. He is unique in this, rivaled by O.J., but with no exoneration of any kind to fall back on.

Ben Johnson is pretty high on the list.

"the sport is getting cleaner as evidenced by the much more human performances in the TDF - like leaders having rough days instead of being super human every day."

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clearly didnt see Chris Froome and Bradley wiggins riding the tour this year

Who's this Lance Armstrong? I've looked through tons of race results but can't find his name.

Got to vote for the Black Sox scandal.

In 1919, baseball was the biggest sport in the US. I'd say what happened there would be the equivalent of today learning that a Super Bowl team deliberately threw the game.

Ben Johnson

Black Sox scandal in MLB was pretty big.

Mojo Jerkin wrote:

Got to vote for the Black Sox scandal.

Completely changed baseball. Led to the appointment of a commissioner. Permanently damaged the sport's reputation and popularity until Babe Ruth sent the home runs flying, which the league was then that much more eager to get behind. Pretty much the sport as we know it emerged from that moment.

As to whether baseball is "bigger" than cycling, hard to say, but this will probably have at most a minor impact on the sport as a whole. Cyclists have been doping for as long as there's been cycling. The modern drug ban is largely a product of the death of this guy

during the tour de france, hyped up on amphetamines.

I agree with a nowinaccessible thread, though, I'm a little sick of hearing about Lance. Wait until something truly big comes out. It might be a few years.

randomcoach wrote:

Ben Johnson is pretty high on the list.

+1

Here is a list of bigger deals (some overlap)

Ben Johnson in 1988

1919 Black Sox

Numerous college point shaving

Penn State

Marion Jones

Balco

Operation Puerto

Figure Skating Judges colluding in the 2002 Olympics

Penn State

Why is Armstrong below all these scandals? Because everyone in the peleton was doping. He was the same as his competitors.

Now if you can make the case Armstrong was unique than he goes to the top.

Otherwise you could broaden it to "1996 to 2010 cycling" and that might be at or near the top of the list. Otherwise, Armstrong alone is not that big because he was not unique.

How about the East German doping machine? That was spread across all sports, with particular emphasis on Olympic sports. That was very well organized, government sanctioned, government funded cheating on a national scale in international competition. They destroyed people's bodies and minds through that program, and when an athlete could not succeed, they were tossed aside like a rotten piece of meat.

Not even close.

If for no other reason than the fact that everyone knew that all cyclist dope or were doping. This simply confirmed what we already knew.

The Penn State thing where a guy is molesting kids and a legendary fball coach covers it up! That is freakin' crazy.

1972 Olympic Basketball - USSR vs USA?

don't be ridiculous, the 'biggest in history' didn't all happen in the present time.

bonds/mcgwire/sosa, the black sox, pete rose, fab five, tiger woods, the USA vs USSR basketball game...

Biggest scandal in sports? 1932 Colgate University Football. Unbeaten, untied, unscored upon (outscored opponents 264 - 0) and uninvited to the Rose Bowl. The team from the east (in those days it was the PCC champion against the best team from the east) that year was Pitt, who lost to USC 35 - 0.

yes, it is rose/bonds/mcgwire/sosa because that is america's pastime and it was disgraced by these men. the cycling, with the tight shorts and the silly helmets and the whole french thing...give me break. plus, lance seems annoying, with the speedo and all that vanity. pete rose was hilarious and a tough guy, he'd break lance in half over his knee. that would be great to see